pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

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How Majestic!

Reading: Psalm 8

Psalm 8:1 – “Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name throughout the earth!”

Photo credit: Greg Rakozy

Psalm 8 begins and ends with the same words, praising God for who and what God is. The words in between celebrate the creation and humanity’s place within the world God created.

The psalmist looks up at the skies and is awed. The work of God’s “fingers” is vast and powerful and amazing. We’ve had these feelings and responses when we’ve looked up at the stars. The Psalm then pivots to humanity. The psalmist muses about God even paying attention to something so relatively small. We’ve also each felt our own smallness as we have stared heavenward.

In verse 5 the psalmist acknowledges that God has made humanity “only slightly less than divine.” Of all creation, only humanity is created in the image of God. Accordingly humanity has been charged with ruling over God’s “handiwork.” All has been put “under their feet.” It would be easy to read these words and to find justification for devouring the planet and its resources, eating our fill of the earth’s “fruit.” When thus tempted, may we be reminded of our smallness and of the earth being God’s handiwork. These reminders keep us humble and invite us to care for our world as God would care for our world. May it all be so.

Prayer: Lord God, yes, Lord, how majestic is your name and your creation. From the skies to a baby’s cry, your handiwork calls for praise and adoration. Lead and guide us to care for this world as acts of praise and adoration, bringing you all the glory. Amen.


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God’s Presence, Goodness, and Love

Reading: Psalm 19

Psalm 19:8 – “The Lord’s regulations are right, gladdening the heart. The Lord’s commands are pure, giving light to the eyes.”

Psalm 19 celebrates God’s presence with us. David first recognizes God in the created world. The Psalm begins, “Heaven is declaring God’s glory.” This is evident in God’s “handiwork.” To take in the vastness of the stars, to feel that limitless power, is to sense and feel God. Yet God’s handiwork is also small and intricate, like a spider web or like a tiny seed that yields a beautiful flower. David also recognizes God in the passing of time. One day to one night, over and over again, reveals God’s good plans for our world. David acknowledges that the sun, moon, and stars do not literally speak, yet the presence of God in them reaches out “to the ends of the earth.”

Starting in verse 7 David turns to God’s “instruction.” He is speaking of the Torah, the collection of laws and commands that governed his life. Following these, David gains wisdom. They gladden his heart and give light to his eyes. The Law is true, worth more than gold, “sweeter than honey.” David finds great reward in keeping God’s will and way. This too is evidence that there is a God, one who ordered not only creation, but life itself. As a follower of Jesus, we also find joy in keeping God’s will and way. We find that doing so, we have a relationship with our God. Within this relationship we experience peace and hope, assurance and contentment, comfort and guidance. Loving God and loving neighbor yields a life centered outside of self, a life that truly reflects God’s goodness and love.

In the closing verses, David shares another way that he experiences God. Fallible and sinful as we are, God is overflowing in forgiveness, redemption, and restoration. This is because God created us to be in relationship – with God and with one another. Again and again God cleansed and restored David to right relationship. Our rock and redeemer will do the same for you and for me. Thanks be to God!

Prayer: Lord God, thank you for your presence in the world – yes, in the heavens but also in the tides, in the spring growth, in the gentle snowfall. Thank you for pursuing us, for seeking us out, for desiring to be in relationship with us, and for being willing to do whatever it takes to keep us there, loving us unconditionally. This day may we honor you by reflecting your love and goodness into the world. Amen.


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Judge, Rescuer, Creator

Readings: Psalms 5-8

‭Psalm 7:8 – “The LORD will judge the peoples. Establish justice for me, LORD, according to my righteousness and according to my integrity.”

Photo credit: Michael Michelovski

Psalms 5-7 are Psalms of lament and sorrow. All three cry out to God, lifting cries for rescue, protection, deliverance – all from those who do evil, whether it is those in the world or if the evil is within us. The psalmist(s) cry out, “Hear my words, Lord!”… “Have mercy on me, Lord” … “Get up, Lord; get angry!” There is an urgency and there is a trust that God will act. This trust is built on God’s “abundant, faithful love” and on a God who is “a righteous judge.” In the end, there is a belief that our good, loving, just God will surely triumph over evil.

These Psalms also express a sure need for God. In Psalm 5: “Make your way clear, right in front of me.” We need guidance. In Psalm 6: “Come back to me, Lord! Deliver me.” We need God’s presence and God’s rescue. In Psalm 7: “Save me from all who chase me!” We need God’s deliverance. Each Psalm acknowledges that there is evil in the world that we cannot overcome on our own. We saw this in Job’s story. In 7:8 the psalmist writes: “The LORD will judge the peoples. Establish justice for me, LORD, according to my righteousness and according to my integrity.” Job could’ve spoken these words. We would like to be able to speak these words.

There is a strong shift as we turn to Psalm 8. It is a Psalm of Praise sprinkled in amongst the laments. It is needed after Psalms 5-7. The Psalm opens and closes by acknowledging the majesty of God. This is noticed in the night sky – the works of God’s fingers. The vastness and majesty of the stars and moon is initially contrasted with the smallness of humanity. The author asks, “What are human beings that you pay attention to them?” Well, they are divinely made in God’s image and they are tasking with caring well for God’s creation. Both of these are awesome responsibilities. In these roles may we strive to reflect God’s spirit, intention, and purpose in creation, shining brightly for all to see.

Prayer: Lord God, today we hear the cries of the psalmist(s) for your presence, for your justice, for your righteousness, for your power and might. When we are in need, remind us of these words and of the trust and faith contained in them. And, Lord, when we have the opportunity to care well for one another and for all other parts of your creation, may your generous love guide us. Amen.


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The Path

Reading: Matthew 13: 1-9 and 18-23

Verses 3 and 4: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed…”

Today’s parable is one of my favorites. The parable of the sower is one of my favorites because of the underlying message and directive. On a surface, practical level, it is the story of a farmer who probably wasn’t very successful – at least be farming standards. No farmer worth his weight in seeds would plant seeds in shallow soil or amongst rocks, nevermind on the path. But this is not really a story about how to be a good farmer.

On the figurative level the parable is about the types of souls who hear the message of faith. On this level we all know people with hard hearts, people who “try out” faith but soon return to life as normal, and people who really want to be faithful followers but struggle with the cares and lures of the world. We also know people who live and share a solid faith, leading others to become believers. Some of us have even been the farmer at times, trying to share our faith with others. When doing so we have encountered all of these types of soil. In this sense, the parable is a good summary of the challenges of evangelism and of the reality of the difficulty of a faithful walk with Jesus Christ. For these reasons it is a good parable – lots of application and understanding.

I love the parable, though, for what is implied, especially in the opening lines: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed…” For me, the key word is “scatter”. To me there is a willy-nilly wildness to this method of planting seeds of faith that God prefers. To me, this speaks of the vastness and inclusiveness of God’s love. The parable’s underlying message and directive are to share God’s love and the good news of Jesus Christ with everyone. Hardest of hard hearts all the way to the most eager recipient you’ve ever met. And everyone in between.

This is how Jesus operated. He ministered to the adulterer and to the Pharisee, to the tax collector and to the leper, to the demon-possessed and to the children, to the widow and to the masses… You name the type of soul, Jesus met them where they were at, entered into relationship with them, walked with them, ministered to them. This too is our mission. No, it is not easy. The road is hard and will often place us in uncomfortable situations and places. Such is the path of following Jesus, working to make disciples of all people and nations. May we walk the path well.

Prayer: Lord God, I do love this story but it is also very challenging. It pushes me, it calls me to new people and to new places. Go with me as I seek to follow your Son. Amen.


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All Good

Reading: Genesis 1:1 to 2:4a

Verse 25: “And God saw that it was good”.

Today we read the story of creation. It is a summary of how our world was created. Within the account there is a beauty and an order. These two enduring characteristics of God leap out of his creative acts. One thing at a time is created – night and day; sky, land, and seas; vegetation and trees; sun, moon, and stars; sea and air creatures; and, land creatures. Once all the groundwork is created, God makes human beings in his own image. Their task, our task, is to watch over and care for what God has made.

As God gets into the third day on, the creation explodes. On day three, for example, all the vegetation and trees are created, each “according to its kind”. This is a vast amount of life forms. It speaks of the power and might of God. The same is true when we think of the different species of the sea and air creatures and of all the land creatures – not to mention the unthinkable number of stars and planets and moons in the universe. The sheer greatness of God is revealed in all of creation. It is a greatness that is hard to even begin to wrap our minds around. And, yes, it was all good! Let us praise the Lord our God for all of the created world.

Prayer: Father of all, thank you for the diversity and beauty of your creation. Each and every thing has your fingerprints upon them. Because of that, all things have sacred worth. Thank you for that reminder today, O God. Amen.


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God Is Revealed

Reading: Psalm 139: 1-6

Verse 6: “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain”.

Verses one through six are about God’s personal connection to each of us. The psalmist recognizes that God searches and knows him, that God perceives his thoughts, that God knows his words before they are spoken. He also notes that God “hems me in” – that God is behind and before him. God has his hand upon him. In a joyous yet overwhelming response, the psalmist writes, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain”. We too are invited into just such a relationship by God. We too can barely fathom it.

For the psalmist, the world and all that is in it were created by God. To the Israelites, God was an omnipotent and omnipresent God. God was everywhere at once and knows all things too. The Israelites’ understanding of the vastness of space was not nearly as advanced as our modern understanding, but one only needs to glance up at the stars to begin to sense the size of God’s creation. And yet this same God knows our going and coming, knows our words and thoughts, is ever with each of us.

We can sense God in the created world. In the new bloom, in the baby’s first cry, in the crash of thunder, in the smile of the stranger – God is revealed. In the nudge and the soft whisper of the Spirit, in the tangible strength or comfort, in the witness of the apostles – God is revealed. Our big, big God is also a personal, one-on-one God. What an amazing God we love and serve.

Prayer: God, you are as vast as the sands upon the beach and yet you know my every thought and each fiber of my body. I am humbled that huge and powerful you desires a relationship with me. Thank you, God. Amen.


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A Great Love

Reading: Hosea 1:10

Verse 10: “There it shall be said to them, ‘You are sons of the living God'”.

The people of Israel and Judah have separated and Israel has departed from God. God has decided to mercilessly send them into exile. The sins of idolatry are so great that a consequence is required. The people are no longer God’s people and God is not their God. At times we too get to a place that feels like this. Because of our sin we have created separation from God.

In today’s passage we find hope. God reveals through Hosea that Israel will be restored. The separation will not be forever. God begins by telling them that they will be as vast as the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted. This image and these words echo the covenant that God made with Abraham. It speaks of a day when Israel will be a vast nation.

God also connects back to the reference to Jezreel. What had once been a place and event that was displeasing to God will now be where the restoration begins: “There it shall be said to them, ‘You are sons of the living God'”. Once again Israel will live in covenant relationship with God. The relationship will come full circle. Israel will once again be God’s children and God will be their God.

At the start of the book of Hosea Israel was so far from God’s ways that a harsh consequence was necessary. Even though the sin was this great, God did not give up on them or forever abandon them. God did not stop loving his children. The message for us is the same.

Although our sin might be great, God will never stop loving us. It is that great love that gives us hope. It is a love that never fails. Therefore, whatever we might do, whatever we might become, there is still a God who loves us. There is still a God who wants to bring us back into right relationship. For us, for you and for me, God even went so far as to amend the sacrificial system. It cost God his son on the cross. Now, through Jesus’ blood, we can personally be restored and redeemed. It is a great love that never fails. Thanks be to God.

Prayer: Lord God, your love for me is amazing. No matter what I do, no matter how far I run, no matter what, your love always calls out to me, ever seeks to restore me, ever yearns to make me righteous again. Thank you for your love. Amen.


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A Big, Big God

Reading: Ephesians 3: 14-21

Verse 16: “I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being”.

Paul’s writing today in Ephesians 3 paints a picture for us concerning the vastness of God’s love for us. It is indeed a vast, vast love. It is a love that is difficult to fully understand too. It is one of those things that once you begin to grasp the immensity of, you are more and more amazed by it.

Our reality is that God’s love needed to be that big because of who we are. At its core, God’s love is a covenant love that says to us, “I’ll love you no matter what”. When I think about my tendency to return to the same sins over and over, it really makes me wonder how God could continue to love even me. These sins are not egregious and do not cause great harm to others, but are sins nonetheless. God’s love is a love big enough to say that He still loves me after the 3,187,349th unkind thought.

Paul too lived this struggle. He was not perfect and knew that his brothers and sisters in Christ we’re not either. He knew that we needed help. Today he prays for us, saying, “I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being”. In essence Paul is praying that the Holy Spirit dwell in us to give us strength in our constant battle with sin. It is a prayer I appreciate very much. It is a prayer that I need.

On some days I cannot imagine that I will make it through the day. And then I remember God’s vast love for me. At the close of today’s reading is another great reminder on those days. In verse 20 Paul writes, “to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine”. Immeasurably more. More than I can ask or imagine. This is a big, big God. It is strength for the day and hope for all tommorows. Thanks be to God that He loves you and me.


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Love

Reading: Psalm 139: 13-18

Verse 13: “You created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb”.

God is a vast God.  God created the world and all living creatures.  God continues to be active and present each day.  God’s love is unending, God’s mercy always overflows, and God’s forgiveness pours forth from the throne unceasingly.  As vast as God is, though, God is also intimately connected to each of us as well.  Verse thirteen speaks of how God has been connected to each of us since our beginning: “You created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb”.  God personally formed each of us.  Personally.  God really loves and values each and every one of us as!

In the beginning of time God spoke a word and created.  God set stars among the sky that are so numerous that we cannot count them.  Yet God knows each one by name.  This is amazing power and might.  But is was all done at once.  God spoke and it was.  That’s power.  For you and me and for each of the billions and billions of people who have lived and who are now alive, God knit us together.  We are each formed by hand, so to speak.  We are “fearfully and wonderfully made”, true, but we are also individually made.  Each of us is a unique creation of God’s mighty hand.  I think that is more amazing than any part of the creation story.

Even though we are formed by God’s hands, at times we separate ourselves from God.  We choose to sin or we may even deny our relationship with God.  We are imperfect and human.  God is not.  Into our sin, God sends grace and mercy and forgiveness.  God says, “I love you still”.  In those times of separation or denial, God continues to seek us out, to call out to us, to love us.  God could just create another person and hope for better results, but does not.  We are each the most important creation there is.  That’s how big God’s love is.

While I am thankful for this love, I know that it cannot stop there.  It is a love that must be shared with others.  This day, O Lord, may I be your love to another.  May it be so for all of us.  Amen.


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Mystery of Love

Reading: Ephesians 3: 1-12

Paul speaks of the mystery in this passage.  Paul experienced a change in his own person that many would call a mystery.  In his conversion experience, he certainly felt and connected to the mystery of Christ.  Paul also speaks of the mystery of the gospel that includes Gentiles and all peoples into the family of God.  To me his speaks of the vast love of God, a love that encompasses all and is so hard to wrap our minds around.

Vast and endless experiences in nature remind me of God’s love.  When I stand on the shore of Lake Michigan and look out to the east, it appears endless.  Water goes on forever.  On a warm summer night when I lay out and look up at the sky, the stars seem endless.  In the endless nature of the sea and sky, I can see God.  In these settings, I begin to gain an idea of how big and unending God’s love really is.  Yet I also know God’s love is bigger than anything in nature and is beyond my comprehension.

The sky is vast and made up of millions and millions of stars.  But each star matters, each star has a place.  The sea is the same – many, many droplets of water, but each its own.  This parallels us and our place in the family of God.  Each of us is one of millions and millions, yet each is a special and unique creation of God – known since we were knit together in the womb.  Each of us individually loved.

In this I find mystery.  God’s love is as vast and endless as the sky or sea, yet God knows each of us by name.  God counts that hairs on our heads.  God knows and loves each of us in a deep and personal way.  His is a mystery I cannot fully understand, but one I am deeply grateful for.  For the mystery of God’s love, we say thanks be to God.